# National electoral list

The national electoral list (commonly referred to as the national list) was a national list comprising 35 candidates for the Sejm of the Polish People's Republic's 10th term during the first round of 1989 Polish parliamentary election. It included representatives from the highest state and party authorities associated with the Polish United Workers' Party and its satellite groups, as well as social organizations controlled by the party.
In the voting held on 4 June 1989, only two candidates from the list secured parliamentary mandates. The defeat of the remaining candidates – among them Prime Minister Mieczysław Rakowski, members of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party, and key figures like Ministers Czesław Kiszczak and Florian Siwicki, as well as leaders of the Alliance of Democrats and the United People's Party – resulted in most ruling bloc leaders being excluded from parliament. This outcome was widely regarded as a significant and symbolic defeat for the ruling regime.

## Creation of the national electoral list

The Polish Round Table Agreement between the ruling communists and the Solidarity opposition provided for partially free elections to the Sejm of the Polish People's Republic. 65% of the seats were reserved for the signatories of the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth (representatives of the Polish United Workers' Party, the United People's Party, the Alliance of Democrats, the PAX Association, the Christian-Social Union [pl], and the Polish Catholic-Social Union [pl]). The remaining 35% of seats were open to independent candidates.
10% of the 460 seats were to be allocated from the national list, designed primarily to ensure seamless election of party leaders to the Sejm. Solidarity leaders were offered 11 slots on this list, but the opposition declined, perceiving it as a deceptive attempt by the Polish United Workers' Party to blur the distinctions between the government and Solidarity factions.
On 7 April 1989, the Sejm, in line with the Round Table agreements, adopted a new electoral law. The legislation stipulated that no more than 10% of seats could be allocated via the national list. The State Council, exercising its authority, set this number at 35 seats. The electoral law allowed only the agreement of the top authorities of the Polish United Workers' Party, United People's Party, Alliance of Democrats, PAX Association, Christian-Social Union, Polish Catholic-Social Union, and Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth to submit the national list.
The list was required to include candidates in alphabetical order, matching the total number of seats designated for the list. Candidates needed to receive more than half of the valid votes to secure a seat. A vote for a candidate was cast by not crossing out their name on the national list. Consequently, leaving the separate ballot with these candidates unmarked meant an automatic vote for all listed individuals. However, the electoral law did not specify any procedures for filling unallocated seats if some candidates failed to secure enough votes in the first round. This oversight reflected the complete lack of anticipation by Wojciech Jaruzelski's regime of the national list's potential failure.
The National Electoral Commission announced the national electoral list on 12 May 1989, presenting the candidates as representatives of a broad spectrum of political, social, cultural, local government, and academic groups. In reality, all nominees were closely tied to the ruling bloc. For example, former Polish United Workers' Party First Secretary Stanisław Kania was introduced as a local government activist, and Kazimierz Barcikowski, Deputy Chairman of the State Council and former Deputy Prime Minister, as a representative of cooperative groups.
Notably, Polish United Workers' Party First Secretary and Chairman of the State Council Wojciech Jaruzelski was not among the candidates, as he was slated to assume the newly created office of President of the Polish People's Republic following the elections. The list, however, included other communist party leaders, United People's Party and Alliance of Democrats heads, leaders of sanctioned Christian, women's, and union organizations, as well as several academics and artists supportive of the ruling bloc.

## Electoral campaign and voting

The Solidarity Citizens' Committee did not conduct an official campaign against the government candidates. However, voting against them, especially against the national list, was considered a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the Polish People's Republic. Flyers and posters began to appear on the streets, providing instructions on how to cast a vote against the coalition activists. Information on this was provided by Bohdan Tomaszewski on the radio's Studio Solidarity, and Jacek Fedorowicz in the television Studio Solidarity, particularly highlighting the need to cross out each name separately rather than marking a single "X" for the entire list. There were doubts regarding the legitimacy of crossing out the entire list with one mark. On 15 May 1989, the Solidarity-affiliated Gazeta Wyborcza highlighted the potential benefits of the failure of the national list candidates. In the article Zyskać więcej (Gain More), the author noted that if these seats were left unfilled, the number of non-party (citizen) deputies could be proportionally higher.
In response to these actions, the government side began criticizing the opposition's campaign, accusing them of explicitly calling for the crossing out of government candidates, especially from the national list. This issue was directly addressed at a meeting of the Consultative Commission on 19 May 1989.
In the election on 4 June 1989, only two out of the 35 candidates marginally exceeded the 50% threshold and secured seats. These were Professor Mikołaj Kozakiewicz (United People's Party, 50.85%, 8.671 million votes) and Professor Adam Zieliński (Polish United Workers' Party, 50.66%, 8.639 million votes). The remaining candidates received between 40.03% and 49.98% of the votes, with the lowest result being 38.76% for Kazimierz Barcikowski. The selection of the two representatives was sometimes explained (e.g., by Anatol Lawina [pl]) by the specific placement of their names on the electoral list and the inaccurate cross-outs made by voters.

## Solution to the unfilled seats issue

The election of 4 June 1989 brought a decisive victory for the Solidarity opposition, which, in the first round, won 160 out of the 161 seats allocated to non-party candidates in the Sejm. In contrast, the ruling coalition secured only 3 seats out of 264, and these were unofficially supported by Solidarity. The collapse of the national electoral list was considered the most painful and prestigious defeat for the ruling camp, as it resulted in the majority of the communist leadership being excluded from parliament.
On 8 June 1989, another meeting of the Consultative Commission was held, during which Czesław Kiszczak criticized Lech Wałęsa for the campaign calling for the crossing out of non-Solidarity candidates, which the government side viewed as a violation of the agreements made at the Round Table talks. A proposal was made to annul the vote for the national list and to hold a re-vote in the second round. Adam Michnik opposed this solution. Ultimately, it was agreed that the government would ask the State Council to legally enable the filling of the remaining 33 seats. On 12 June 1989, the State Council issued a decree amending the electoral law and a resolution, which redistributed these seats among the existing electoral districts (creating new mandates numbered from 426 to 458) and allocated them exclusively to the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth coalition members. This solution was controversial because it involved changing the rules of the election mid-process, which caused dissatisfaction among some Solidarity activists. Supporters of the compromise pointed to the need to demonstrate goodwill toward the other side and a desire to remain in the opposition. It was also argued that such a stance would deprive the communists of an excuse to annul the elections.
The additional 33 mandates were filled in the second round of voting on 18 June 1989. None of the 33 candidates who had lost in the first round chose to run again.

## List of candidates for the national electoral list and voting results

Bold names indicate candidates elected to the Sejm.
| No. | Candidate | Party | Background | Votes | % |
| 1. | Władysław Baka | Polish United Workers' Party | Professor of economics, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party | 7,904,212 | 46.35 |
| 2. | Kazimierz Barcikowski | Polish United Workers' Party | Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, deputy chairman of the State Council, chairman of the Supreme Cooperative Council, MP in the People's Sejm | 6,609,079 | 38.76 |
| 3. | Stanisław Ciosek | Polish United Workers' Party | Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party Central Committee, general secretary of the national council of the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth | 7,159,491 | 41.98 |
| 4. | Józef Czyrek | Polish United Workers' Party | Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party Central Committee, vice-chairman of the national council of Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth, MP in the People's Sejm | 6,826,957 | 40.03 |
| 5. | Wiesław Gwiżdż [pl] | Polish Catholic-Social Association | President of the Polish Catholic-Social Association, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,029,911 | 47.09 |
| 6. | Mieczysław Jakubowski [pl] | Alliance of Democrats | Vice-chairman of the Alliance of Democrats Central Committee | 8,228,163 | 48.25 |
| 7. | Jerzy Jóźwiak [pl] | Alliance of Democrats | Chairman of the Alliance of Democrats Central Committee | 8,321,536 | 48.80 |
| 8. | Marek Kabat [pl] | PAX Association | Secretary of the National Board of the PAX Association, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,187,074 | 48.01 |
| 9. | Jan Kaczmarek | Polish United Workers' Party | Professor of technical sciences, president of the Polish Federation of Engineering Associations, MP in the People's Sejm (Polish United Workers' Party) | 8,375,163 | 49.11 |
| 10. | Stanisław Kania | Polish United Workers' Party | Former First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party Central Committee, MP in the People's Sejm | 6,877,825 | 40.33 |
| 11. | Jerzy Kawalerowicz | Polish United Workers' Party | Film director, artistic director of the Polish Film Producers' Teams, MP in the People's Sejm (Polish United Workers' Party) | 8,405,334 | 49.29 |
| 12. | Czesław Kiszczak | Polish United Workers' Party | Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, Minister of the Interior, MP in the People's Sejm; later nominated as Prime Minister after the 1989 elections, but rejected by the Sejm | 7,666,698 | 44.96 |
| 13. | Zenon Komender [pl] | PAX Association | Chairman of the National Board of the PAX Association, deputy chairman of the State Council, MP in the People's Sejm | 7,820,484 | 45.86 |
| 14. | Zofia Kowalczyk [pl] | United People's Party | Independent farmer, member of the United People's Party National Council | 8,291,410 | 48.62 |
| 15. | Mikołaj Kozakiewicz | United People's Party | Professor of humanities, member of the United People's Party National Council, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,671,395 | 50.85 |
| 16. | Bogdan Królewski [pl] | United People's Party | Secretary of the United People's Party National Council, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,270,709 | 48.50 |
| 17. | Wiktor Marek Leyk [pl] | Christian-Social Union | Vice-president of the Christian-Social Union, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,168,899 | 47.90 |
| 18. | Elżbieta Lęcznarowicz [pl] | Polish United Workers' Party | Chairwoman of the Polish Women's League | 8,500,772 | 49.85 |
| 19. | Dominik Ludwiczak [pl] | United People's Party | Vice-president of the United People's Party National Council, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,441,691 | 49.50 |
| 20. | Jarema Maciszewski [pl] | Polish United Workers' Party | Professor of humanities, rector of the Academy of Social Sciences, MP in the People's Sejm (Polish United Workers' Party) | 8,237,584 | 48.31 |
| 21. | Janusz Maksymiuk | Polish United Workers' Party | Chairman of the main council of the National Association of Farmers, Peasant Circles and Agricultural Organizations, member of the Polish United Workers' Party | 8,344,736 | 48.93 |
| 22. | Roman Malinowski | United People's Party | President of the United People's Party National Council, Marshal of the People's Sejm | 7,921,072 | 46.45 |
| 23. | Jan Mieloch [pl] | PAX Association | Director of United Economic Teams, MP in the People's Sejm (PAX) | 8,262,203 | 48.45 |
| 24. | Alfred Miodowicz | Polish United Workers' Party | Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, member of the State Council, chairman of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions, MP in the People's Sejm | 7,171,454 | 42.05 |
| 25. | Kazimierz Morawski [pl] | Christian-Social Union | President of the Christian-Social Union National Board, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,432,997 | 49.45 |
| 26. | Kazimierz Olesiak | United People's Party | Member of the United People's Party National Council, deputy prime minister, minister of agriculture, forestry and food economy, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,522,579 | 49.98 |
| 27. | Mieczysław Rakowski | Polish United Workers' Party | Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, Prime Minister, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,213,671 | 48.17 |
| 28. | Florian Siwicki | Polish United Workers' Party | Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, Minister of National Defense, MP in the People's Sejm | 7,539,053 | 44.21 |
| 29. | Józef Szawiec [pl] | Alliance of Democrats | Secretary of the Alliance of Democrats Central Committee, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,265,204 | 48.47 |
| 30. | Tadeusz Szelachowski | United People's Party | Vice-president of the United People's Party National Council, deputy chairman of the State Council, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,175,870 | 47.94 |
| 31. | Szymon Szurmiej | Polish United Workers' Party | Theater director, MP in the People's Sejm (Polish United Workers' Party) | 8,186,501 | 48.01 |
| 32. | Edward Szymański [pl] | Polish United Workers' Party | Secretary of the Commission for Representative Bodies in the Polish United Workers' Party Central Committee, MP in the People's Sejm | 8,187,022 | 48.01 |
| 33. | Władysław Szymański [pl] | United People's Party | Professor of economics, member of the State Council, MP in the People's Sejm (United People's Party) | 8,291,751 | 48.62 |
| 34. | Stanisław Śliwiński [pl] | United People's Party | Secretary of the United People's Party National Council | 8,334,753 | 48.88 |
| 35. | Adam Zieliński | Polish United Workers' Party | Professor of law, President of the Supreme Administrative Court, member of the Polish United Workers' Party | 8,639,833 | 50.66 |